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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303922">what it might take</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/rockyteriyaki/pseuds/rockyteriyaki'>rockyteriyaki</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ALSO SHIPPERS/PROBLEMATIC ACCS DNI I HATE U, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Manipulation, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, Sam just wants to help, TommyInnit Has PTSD (Video Blogging RPF), another short fic i just couldn’t get the concept out of my head IM SORRY, dream’s a piece of shit, so I wrote it, the tags make this seem so dark it’s really not, title from everyone blooms by the front bottoms, we were robbed of sam finding out abt what happened in exile</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:47:22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,482</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303922</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/rockyteriyaki/pseuds/rockyteriyaki</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“what do you want,” sam said flatly, cutting straight to the chase. dream only grinned wider.</p><p>“i want,” he sing-songed, elongating the vowel. “to tell you a secret.” his voice dropped to a hushed whisper, eyes widening gleefully as he strained against his bindings. sam swallowed.</p><p>“and what would that be?” sam hoped the uneasiness he was feeling didn’t show in his voice. </p><p>“what i did to him.”</p><p>the whisper echoed off the obsidian, and sam felt as though he’d been doused with cold water. “d-did to who?” </p><p>the whites of dream’s eyes flickered in the firelight. up close, his skin looked stretched, scars distorted and inhuman against his toothy smile. </p><p>“tommy.”</p><p>or; sam finds out about what happened in exile.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sam | Awesamdude &amp; TommyInnit, note the ampersand</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>385</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Completed stories I've read, rye's lifeblood (alternatively titled: rye's favorites)</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>what it might take</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>sam watched as tommy bounded down the prime path, rambling excitedly to himself. discretely, he double tapped the side of his mask to enable his voice modulator, realizing that tommy probably expected sam nook to be standing outside the construction area.</p><p>“SAM NOOK!” tommy yelled, confirming sam’s prediction. sam smiled, led interface on his mask flashing to a wide grin.</p><p>“hello again tommyinnit!” he said, hearing the gibberish come out of the speakers in his mask. tommy’s eyes flicked downwards to read the transcription that appeared at the bottom of his vision.  “hello sam nook!” he repeated enthusiastically, telltale grin materializing as the teen awaited his daily task. sam scrambled to think of something that would keep him occupied. the hotel was almost finished and, in all truthfulness, there wasn’t much left to be done, but he was reluctant to stop this routine the two had built. everyone could see that tommy was on the mend, emotionally and physically, and sam liked to think his daily quests and regular praise had helped that process.</p><p>after assigned tommy a random task (gathering poppies for red dye, only because it would give him an excuse to see tubbo in snowchester); sam heard a chirp, signaling that someone was trying to contact him through his earpiece. after removing the voice modulator, he quickly answered the call.</p><p>immediately, bad’s weary voice came through the earpiece. “hey, sam.” he tensed, knowing that bad had taken a late shift at the prison and fearing the worst.</p><p>fortunately, the other man sensed his apprehension and was quick to reassure. “don’t worry, nothing bad happened, but dream burned his clock again.” sam groaned audibly.</p><p>“are you serious? again? i’m gonna-” he inhaled deeply, knowing tommy was probably still within earshot. “can’t you replace it?”</p><p>“i tried, but he just burned it again. he wants you, says he-” bad hesitated for a moment. “says he misses you.”</p><p>sam grimaced at that. “be right there.”</p><p> </p><p>sam ran a calloused hand through his shock of green hair, muttering to himself as he paced the blackstone halls of the prison. he ran through the security protocols subconsciously, process so familiar it was autonomous. roughly, he opened the sealed door to the vault lobby.</p><p>“hey!” bad greeted him cheerfully, wings flapping in greeting from his position by the door. </p><p>“hey,” sam grumbled, annoyance having overridden trepidation in the course of the 30 minutes it took to get to the vault. bad winced.</p><p>“i’m sorry, i really did try to persuade him, he’s just in a bad mood t-”</p><p>sam interrupted him with a wave. “it’s fine, bad,” he turned to face the demon. “really. hey, how about you leave? i’ll take over for a few hours, or else i’ll get punz to do it. either way, i’m pretty sure skeppy was looking for you earlier.”</p><p>“he was?” bad stood up to his full height, 9’6” stature made nonthreatening only by the sheer delight on his face. “i gotta go find him! thanks, sam!” with an excited swish of his tail, bad was gone.</p><p>sam smiled at the interaction, bad’s happiness contagious. he pushed the drain button with his elbow, attention focused on his wristwatch. he had been trying to configure it so that the voice modulator could be activated with a physical motion, but so far he hadn’t had any luck. maybe if he rewired it, or connected it to his mask somehow? or-</p><p>sam’s train of thought was broken by someone clearing their throat. flicking his eyes upwards, he let his face fall into a noncommittal gaze. “hi.”</p><p>dream smiled, the lava barrier between them gone. “hi,” he parroted, voice smug. sam rolled his eyes.</p><p>“i have your clock,” he said, dropping his voice into the warden register. snapping his wrist upward, he walked forward onto the moving platform, clock appearing in his hand. dream’s expression remained confident, even as the half-wall dropped and sam stepped inside. he was silent as sam hung the clock on the wall; sitting patiently on the floor, chained to the obsidian behind him. sam eyed him suspiciously, making sure the clock was set to the right time before turning towards the prisoner.</p><p>“what do you want,” he said flatly, cutting straight to the chase. dream only grinned wider.</p><p>“i want,” he sing-songed, elongating the vowel. “to tell you a secret.” his voice dropped to a hushed whisper, eyes widening gleefully as he strained against his bindings. sam swallowed.</p><p>“and what would that be?” sam hoped the uneasiness he was feeling didn’t show in his voice. the lava popped behind them, and sam felt sweat drip down his shoulder blades through his armor.</p><p>“what i did to him.”</p><p>the whisper echoed off the obsidian, and sam felt as though he’d been doused with cold water. “d-did to who?” </p><p>the whites of dream’s eyes flickered in the firelight. up close, his skin looked stretched, scars distorted and inhuman against his toothy smile. </p><p>“tommy.”</p><p>sam’s muscles jerked, forcing him to step back. white-hot adrenaline poured into his veins. he needed to leave. now.</p><p>dream cackled loudly as sam frantically called the lava drain system, backing up until his calves were pressed against the guardrails. “every day, sam! i visited him every FUCKING day!” dream yelled, chains rattling as he leaned towards sam. “i was the ONLY ONE! i made SURE of it!”</p><p>sam heard himself speak, voice a horrified whisper. “it was you, wasn’t it? the beach party. that was you.”</p><p>“of course it was!” dream laughed, a terrifyingly sharp sound that sounded like broken glass. he threw his head back against the obsidian, giggling hysterically. “it was all me, sam,” he whispered to the ceiling. “the beach party, the community house-“ he snapped his head back to sam. “l’manburg,” he spat, as if the name burned his tongue. </p><p>vaguely, sam felt the platform come up behind him; but he was rooted to his spot, eyes trained on the prisoner in front of him. they sat in silence for a moment, lava popping quietly below the vault.</p><p>“i used to-” dream swallowed, tone tumbling over the edge of amusement. “i used to come and make him put all his items in a hole.” sam’s stomach twisted horribly as the other man bit back a smile. “i would blow them all up. make him start all over again.” </p><p>“you’re sick,” sam choked out, to which dream smiled wistfully.</p><p>“maybe,” dream replied lightly, cocking his head. “but we aren’t that different, you and i.”</p><p>bile rose in sam’s throat, and he stumbled backwards onto the platform. dream cackled. “we really aren’t! we both wanted the same things!” dream’s form got smaller and smaller as he backed away, lava beginning to drip from the ceiling even as he moved across the space. “you can’t keep doing this, sam!” dream crowed, lava muffling his taunts as sam braced himself once more against the familiar blackstone. </p><p>“you can’t save everyone!”</p><p> </p><p>sam tumbled out of the portal, gasping in fresh air as a breeze ran through the lobby. absently, he sprinted out of the imposing building, a sense of static urgency prickling under his skin. his mind was spinning. how? why? sam had visited him nearly every day. he checked on the kid! and yeah, sometimes he was a little worse for wear, but he had attributed that to the harsh living conditions, not-</p><p>sam’s stomach did another flip. he didn’t even want to think about it, the implications of tommy’s only caretaker being a deplorable person. </p><p><i>that explains everything, though, doesn’t it?</i> his mind whispered traitorously. <i>why he flinches when you move too suddenly, why he latched onto sam nook so quickly, why-</i></p><p>“sam?”</p><p>sam looked up, snapping out of his inner spiral. suddenly, he registered that he had somehow ended up at the worn planks of the prime path; breeze ruffling his hair and clothes, made severe by the altitude. tommy stared back at him quizzically, a light smile decorating his features.</p><p>“where’ve you been? you look like you’ve just had sex with a tornado.” tommy snorted at his own joke, grinning widely. his smile faltered at sam’s stunned silence, drawing back slightly. “hey? big man? you alr-”</p><p>“can i hug you?” sam interrupted.</p><p>tommy tensed momentarily, playing it off with a quiet laugh. “i mean, if you want t-”</p><p>sam rushed forwards, encasing the teen in a tight hug. tommy stiffened at the contact, hands coming up to rest defensively on sam’s netherite chestplate. sam only hugged him tighter.</p><p>they stood like that for awhile, wind whipping around the pair as the overcast skies proclaimed a muted surrender. eventually, tommy melted into the embrace, head dropping onto sam’s shoulder.</p><p>“thanks,” sam felt tommy whisper more than he heard him, and he chuckled wetly. he drew back, and a red, tear-stained face greeted him. sam smiled, identical tears slipping down his cheeks. </p><p>“no problem, kid.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>this could be sm better ugh. but i hope u enjoyed! comments and kudos r always appreciated :] also i have way too many headcanons about sam’s character please talk to me about them</p></blockquote></div></div>
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